Ames doctor Jay Brown becomes second Democrat to run for Congress in Iowa's 4th District

Democrat Jay Brown is running for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Iowa's 4th Congressional District, becoming the second candidate to jump into the race.

Brown is an allergist at McFarland Clinic in Ames, where he has worked since 1994.

He plans to hold a launch event for his campaign at 5 p.m. Saturday at Sweet Caroline's, a bar and restaurant at 316 Main Street in Ames.

Brown said he's troubled by the current state of affairs in the United States and discouraged by "the failure of our political system to execute on the needs of working folks."

"I feel as though we are not talking about the issues we need to talk about," he said. "And specifically we’re talking about these hot-button social issues, bathrooms and the like, when we really ought to be talking about improving the upward mobility of our population."

Brown also said the "vitriol" in political discourse is disheartening.

"I think we all want the same things. We all want dignified lives for ourselves and our children," he said. "And I feel as though these common goals are being obfuscated by a bunch of icky rhetoric that is designed in fact to divide us and distract us."

More:Democrat Ryan Melton announces 2024 campaign for Iowa's 4th District in northwest Iowa

Brown grew up in West Des Moines. He has undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Iowa. In addition to his work at McFarland Clinic, Brown was the founder and medical director of the Ames Free Medical Clinic, which operated from 1998 to 2013.

Brown is the second candidate to jump in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 4th District, which covers western Iowa.

Ryan Melton, a Nevada insurance supervisor, launched his campaign in July. It's Melton's second time seeking the seat after he unsuccessfully challenged Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra in 2022.

Feenstra is expected to seek reelection but has not made a formal announcement.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.